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Conferences

I\'m not sure how old this announcement actually is, but I just received the tip via email this morning that the LOC has announced that it will not be at the ALA convention in Toronto. They have established an \"LC at ALA\" website, for information on meetings and other activities of staff who will be attending ALA. The following is from their web site...LC Exhibit Booth Cancelled
The Library of Congress regrets that it will not have an exhibit booth at the 2003 ALA Annual Conference in Toronto. We look forward eagerly to full participation in the Midwinter 2004 exhibition in San Diego. To the members of the American Library Association and the Canadian Library Associations, and to all our fellow exhibitors, we wish you an enjoyable and productive conference.Recruitment
The Library of Congress regrets that it will not be represented at the Placement Center at the ALA annual 2003 conference in Toronto. We look forward eagerly to full participation in the midwinter 2004 exhibition in San Diego.
Visit the [email protected] web site Here.

Found this on the Conference Services page, after being tipped off by a colleague. Apparently, not because of SARS, but due to bad business mojo, the Spectrum Initiative Scholarship Bash, featuring 3 Mo' Tenors, has been cancelled. The management company is in receivership (I don't know what that means, except that it's not good) and cannot guarantee the appearance of its clients. The purchase price can be donated or ticket holders will be able to receive a refund. The following companies have dug into their pockets to help guarantee awards for the upcoming year: ProQuest, Highsmith Inc. and Chelsea House Publishers.

There had been rumblings all week the global health body was on the verge of issuing a second travel advisory against the city. But a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based organization said Friday that there would be no new travel advisory at this time.

This One Says The spectre of a new WHO travel advisory loomed larger in Toronto yesterday as U.S. authorities confirmed that a North Carolina man caught SARS in the city and a hospital with a cluster of possible cases investigated two suspicious deaths.

Experts also examined evidence the American man might have contracted the virus from a symptom-free transmitter, an unsettling challenge to conventional wisdom about how SARS is spread.

'Among the celebrities expected is Madonna to flog her new book, now fully clothed in her postwar dignity. But we couldn't get a final date for her appearance, so you can settle for Ralph Nader, Clyde Edgerton, or any of many others.'

It sounds pretty iffy to me, but you can't beat a sentence that's got both 'Madonna' and 'flog.' Pretty funny, those folks over at LJ. Would it be her new children's book, or is there something else she's got coming out?

Jen Young noticed Toronto may have new SARS cluster, CNN Says Health authorities closed a hospital outside Toronto to new patients because of a possible fresh cluster of SARS cases, while Taiwan on Tuesday reported a half-dozen more cases of the disease. [The Globe And Mail Story]
While The CBC Reports North Carolina is reporting its first case of SARS, and state health officials say the man contracted the disease in Toronto.
Meanwhile, Robin noted Today\'s PW Newsline says ALA is watching with
what they say is \"some groaning as exhibitors continue to back out
of its show. Brodart has already confirmed it won\'t be attending, Baker
& Taylor announced late Friday it would also not be sending anyone, and
other firms continue to send minimal delegations.\" inmybook.com still plans on attending!

In 1995, millions of American women lost a fairly reliable, easy-to-use, and affordable (depending on how active you are) form of birth control when Robbins Healthcare stopped selling the Today Sponge. The demise of the sponge was even memorialized in a Seinfeld episode in which Elaine stockpiles boxes and boxes of the contraceptive.
A collective hurrah went up when Allendale Pharmaceuticals started up production of the sponge again in early 2003. While the U.S. awaits FDA reapproval, the sponge is available, over-the-counter, to our Canadian sisters. It is also available online to non-Canadian consumers, but with vendors cancelling and cutting back, you'll have to fill your carry-on with something for the colleagues besides bubble pens and notepads. This year, tell the colleagues to expect drug-store themed goodies, featuring SARS masks, disposable thermometers, and the sponge.

Library Journal reports here that despite fairly good Toronto/SARS news today, two major vendors, Baker & Taylor and Brodart, announced their decisions to pull out of the conference. Overall registrations are also down, with about 9,800 as of last Friday, compared to 10,200 for last year at the same time. Approximately 12% of this year's registrants are Canadian.

The Toronto Sun says Toronto will remain under the World Health Organization's microscope but will not be hit with another SARS travel advisory for now, the agency decided yesterday. "It was determined the Toronto situation wasn't a threat to international health," WHO spokesman Maria Cheng said.

Toronto escaped an advisory despite surpassing the number of active SARS cases that could trigger the warning, she said.